bill: good morning again, everyone! i'm bill hemmer, live in lower manhattan. president obama visits ground zero today. the president at the moment, the white house, getting ready to depart, head to new york city, in a few hours' time he will mark the death, the killing of osama bin laden -- of u sana bin laden, the president will meet with family members, of the victims of 9/11, on that fateful day almost ten years ago. good morning, everybody, i'm bill hemmer in lower manhattan, alisyn, good morning to you as well, it will be a remarkable day for us as it unfolds down here. alisyn: it's great to have you down there, i'm alisyn camarota. in for martha maccallum. once in new york city, the president will make several stops and a few hours from now arrive at ground zero and while there the president will participate

in a wreath laying at the surviving tree and shortly after that the president will meet with 9/11 families and you'll be speaking to some as well at ground zero. bill: we certainly will. we were down here on monday as you remember alisyn, and today feels different from monday already. it has more a feeling that -- one that's more somber. one that is more like a memorial today, which is what we'll see when the wreath laying gets underway. the last time the president was here was as candidate, then-senator obama, back in 2008, he was here with then-rival, senator john mccain, they went to ground zero together. we will have more on his visit to new york city in a matter of moments alisyn. alisyn: okay bill the meanwhile, we're learning new details about the helicopter used by navy seals in the bin laden raids, u.s. officials describing never before seen choppers as having, quote, unique capabilities, one helicopter was damaged as you know when it made what's called a hard landing inside the compound wall, you can

see it in this picture, showing the flipped tail of that chopper. according to locals, they didn't even hear the helicopters until they were directly overhead and just before they arrived, all the electricity and cell phone service was knocked out in the area. the damaged helicopter is now in the hands of pakistan just officials -- u.s. officials are raising concerns about our technology and who may be able to get their hands on this design. we're going to have a former u.s. navy captain weigh in on that for us bill. bill: yeah, and a lot, too, to talk about when it comes to security. not just in new york city, but across the country. literally, ramped up after bin laden's death. tom ruskin, former nypd, with a security group in manhattan, good morning to you. we talked many times about this, the state of a letter in america. has it changed in new york since monday? >> for sure. new york city police are always ready to ramp it up, based on the security threat. the death of bin laden definitely heightened it to

an all-time high in recent past. bill: when you were new york, we also think about washington, d.c. and the rest of the country, how has it changed in dallas? >> i mean, dallas has a couple threats to it, the fbi and joint terrorist task force down there broke up, l.a. is heightened up secured, specifically at their airports and around their city, but new york city would definitely be in the crosshairs of al-qaeda or the taliban. bill: three days ago, we were about a block and a half further south, and they've moved us away from there. when the president of the united states comes to ground zero, how does it change then, tom? >> i mean, at any time that the president of the united states visits any city, especially new york city, security is at an all-time high. today, the new york city police department has divers, three blocks from here, checking underneath the piers, they have special radiological and biological detectors being hand helled -- held by officers blocks

from here, snipers on most of the roofs and security around this area will be specifically tight. the president will not be meeting with the press and will not be in public for this visit. he will be taken to one -- from one location to the other in a very fast motorcade. bill: with the exception of the wreath laying, that will occur at ground zero, just south of here. >> it's going to be a very secured site at that point in time. bill: tom, thank you very much, appreciate the expertise and happy birthday to you! >> thank you very much. bill: it's a good day for you tom. also want to take you to ground zero behind us here. to a lot of folks that come to new york city, may not notice but it looks like a construction zone everywhere but there is actually so much building going on. this is a picture from the port authority that we were provided late last night. what you can see in own image will outline the footprint of the north tower that will be a cascading waterfall when it opens in september of this year. also, we can highlight the

former footprint of the south tower, again, sacred ground here at ground zero, but the construction of the buildings, five in the end, is well underway, one world trade is well above 60 stories tall, formerly known as the freedom tower, to the right, four world trade, that is already 23 stories tall, and then in addition, you will get two world -- world trade and three world trade once they emerge from the area down here, known as the 16 acres, hallowed ground in lower manhattan. often times we look at these images, alisyn, we say what's going on down there? but they've done an awful lot of work and remarkable work, too. they're constructing one floor per week with 3000 active workers every day. we'll show you a bit more of that later this morning alisyn. alisyn: we'll look forward to that. it's interesting, there's a whole generation of young americans who don't really know who usama bin laden was and don't really know what happened on september 11th,

so this is a good morning to remember, and to take a vivid look back at september 11th, 2001. you'll remember we got our first idea that the world would never be the same at eight what -- 8:45 a.m. eastern, that's when american airlines flight 11 crashed into the north tower of the world trade center. eighteen minutes later, united airlines, flight 175, slammed into the south tower. and then less than two hours later, both buildings had collapsed. in addition to all the innocent civilians killed, new york city lost 343 firefighters and paramedics that day, 23 new york police department officers, and 37 port authority police officers that day. we're getting new information about what happened inside that compound in pakistan, in the moments before and after navy seals shot and killed usama bin laden. who inside that compound was armed? those delta force members are being debriefed in the u.s. and we're learning they took one person alive who is

now in custody. fox's greg palkot is streaming live from abbottabad, pakistan. tell us more. >> reporter: alisyn, it has been some four days since the u.s. navy seals targeted the house behind me here in abbottabad, and in particular the guy that was inside that house, usama bin laden. pakistani troops are on the scene, they're keeping us at a distance from the compound but a short while ago, we had a chance to get a little more up close and personal with that compound. take a look at what we saw, we heard. >> this place is becoming a local media and tourist atrack, it's the abbottabad compound where usama bin laden was killed a dumb of days ago. how much it's worth, locals here tell us a quarter of a million dollars but it's pretty imposing, you've got the steel security entrance door, you've got the tall walls topped with barbed wire and security measures, that's where usama bin laden was said to have lived for as long as six years, the only visual clues that he

was there, some clothes hanging on a clothes line, on a patio, on the other side, in a courtyard, a tall guy walking around. turned out to be the right guy. >> for the operation itself, it's turning out to be more one sided than we initially thought. according to reports, u.s. navy seals did most of the shooting, most of those killed were unarmed, including, it is reported, usama bin laden himself, the first 20 minutes said to be the firefight phase and the remaining time, about another 20 minutes said to be scouring the compound for computer disks and other documents for these guys -- before the guys whisked usama bin laden away from the scene. pretty spectacular stuff. i got to tell you, in talking to the folks here, i couldn't find anyone who believed that actually happened. byrne did admit, however, that if they had photographic proof of death, they might be moved. after the pakistani government -- as for the pakistani government, they're saying there will be

disastrous consequences if the united states tries to do this again. the u.s. hopes it won't happen. alisyn: greg palkot, that is remarkable what you're reporting, the doubts that linger. thank you greg. of course, president obama has decided not to release those photographs, bill. let's go back to you at ground zero. bill: alisyn, in a few hours' time, president obama will land in new york city and from there, the president heads down here to ground zero, paying tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11 and also we will remember the military today, that has sacrificed so enormously over the past ten years, a wreath laying ceremony takes place live at ground zero. we will watch that unfold. the president saying he will not use this as a trophy, this being the controversial death photo of usama bin laden. it will not go public. but my next guest has seen it. he's chairman of the house intelligence committee. he's congressman mike rogers. he's live here in three

minutes on "america's newsroom". >> the reality is that they are eventually going to get out, the pictures are eventually going to get out, then you just relive the intensity of all of this a month from now, two months from now, three months from now. why not put them out now. satisfy at least the rational people.

alisyn: here's what's developing right now in "america's newsroom". president obama declaring mississippi and two other states disaster zones after the recent storms, record breaking flooding from the mississippi river forcing thousands to leave their homes. the last known vet rap of world war i has died at aim of -- age of 110, who served in the royal navy and spent his last years in australia. new unemployment numbers to tell you about, the surge in unemployment the highest level in eight months, 474,000 people, filing last

week. bill: that is a big number on the jobs front. a lot of debate now over whether or not the death pictures of usama bin laden should be made public. here is what the president told "60 minutes" and steve kroft about why he will not release those pictures: >> there is no doubt that we killed usama bin laden. it is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence, as a propaganda tool. you know, that's not who we are. bill: so the decision has been made. but my next guest has seen the photos. congressman mike rogers, he's chairman of the house committee on intelligence. sir, good morning to you.

>> bill, hello. bill: first of all do you agree with this decision or not? >> i did, and i called prior to the president's decision that we should not release the photo or photos. it's a gruesome shot, it's a head wound, anyone who has seen a crime scene photo and there are lots of those out there, it's gruesome to look at. and my point was this: >> bill: what concerns you or what worries you about it going public? >> absolutely. i talked to a soldier yesterday, and i think this exemplifies the point, who was in iraq right during the abu graib photo release and leading up to it, their unit was told get extra medical kits, double your patrols, and be ready for more violence, and sure enough, when all that stuff got out in the public there was more violence, there was a clear spike in violence to those soldiers, and my argument is this: >> bill: so you are -- >> we are -- listen. i'm worried about our soldiers who are in combat

zones where we know, we have a good history that releasing a photo like this will increase violence, and if it costs one soldier's life, it's not worth it. you know, the taliban isn't going to believe us, no matter what we tell them, and my argument is we have the families saying yes, he's dead, we have dna evidence, we have other evidence as well, i think more is probably going to come out about usama bin laden's death, and we have all of that, and we have to get on with the fight of the war on terror. releasing the photo doesn't getis anything. i mean, there's a lot of people who are curious, an that's not going to do anything. bill: right now, you know there have been -- there is at least one photo that's circulating on the internet, and it's not legitimate. it's a fake. >> yes. bill: now, the picture you saw, was it a fake? was it doctored? because some other members of congress have already been duped. >> no, this was a photo, i happened to be at the agency

on monday for other business, and saw the photo in the custody of the cia. no, it was the legitimate phot oavment and here's the point. you put that out, what are people going to say? it was a fake, it's a dupe, he's not dead, you've got to do more, prove more, so we incyte violence and we don't really close that chapter. doesn't make sense to me. who the conspiratorialists are not going to be changed. these are the same con spir tiss who thought george bush had something to do with 9/11. you're not going to satisfy that segment of our population, and you're never going to convince the taliban, either. so let's get on with the rest of the proof so rational people can see it and agree with it and get on with the war on terror. it's not over. usama bin laden is dead but the war on terror is not over. bill: one question on that. >> sure. bill: do you think this photo will only be released eventually and it's only a question of time? >> i'm not sure of that. it's in pretty tight

custody. i wouldn't release it until at least future generations and maybe not even then. it's a gruesome crime photo. remember, here's the question you have to ask, bill, is it worth the life of one u.s. soldier or marine to release this photo. if violence spikes up and it takes one life that may not have had to happen, it -- is it worth it, absolutely not. it's not worth it. we have other proof. raggal people should get on board with this and let's move on and allow our soldiers to do what they do best and come home safely. bill: amen to that and we applaud them again, ten years down the road, what a sacrifice they have all made. >> they sure have. bill: mike rogers, thank you. alisyn? >> alisyn: thanks bill. brand new information about the compound. it was home to the world's most wanted terrorist. what the man who sold part of the land is now saying about who he thought was living there. plus, new concerns about the stuff our seal team had

to leave behind after the bin laden raid.

bill: welcome back, we're in lower manhattan, that's an aerial picture of ground zero where the president will be in a few hours' time to lay a wreath and to mark the kill of usama bin laden, the most wanted man in the world ten years running. with me, senator out of new york, chuck schumer. i was here on monday and the buzz down here was remarkiable. if you were at that intersection, every time the light changed for ten hours, there were hundreds of people crossing the street back and forth. >> right. bill: it's more subdued today. and in all honesty, probably rightfully so. >> exactly. bill: the president's visit today means what to the american people?

>> well, look, getting bin laden is a turning point. it's like a gettysburg in the war on terror. doesn't mean we've won it but it means we've turned the corner. and i think, you know, i remember the early days after 9/11, people doubted whether we could win this war on terror. this is brand new, no lines of battle, suicide bombers who would kill themselves, how are we going to win? well, you bet on the united states. we always prevail and now we've done a very good job, we listen in on them, we've begun to break up their networks. they also thought, i remember, i was here when george bush came, we all thought downtown would become a ghost town, all the financial firms would move. bill: that was talked about every day in new york, and now look at it. >> we're booming, we're thriving, young people are moving in, into residences. so bet on the united states! today is a little more solemn because i think what the president is doing is remembering the families. he's visiting the firefighters and police officers, visiting the families, not giving a speech, laying a wreath, and

he's doing it his waivment i was here when george bush stepped on the pile, that was appropriate, some people say oh, it was staged. i was there, it was not staged. it was an amazing moment. this is also going to be an amazing moment. obama is different. he's a little more career ribral -- cerebral, he's doing it in his quiet way but it's strong, just like president bush was. bill: i have listened to a lot of teenagers in america over the past couple of days and they remark how this is the first bit of good news they believe they've gotten in the war on terror since it started. >> you bet. bill: and they remember when they were eight years old and nine years old and ten years old, and that's why they were out in such great numbers the other night. >> america always prevails. when i was a kid, we feared the russians, we got under our desks, they're air raids you were probably too young to remember and russia went -- khrushchev says we'll

bury you. always bet on america, whether it's a hitler, stalin, bin laden, bet on america. bill: do you agree with the decision not to put this photo out, do you think there's a certain finality in releasing it? that may put to rest this of the doubters? >> let me just say two things. first, i would say this. some say release the photo because it will make sure that people know he's dead. we have all the evidence he's dead. and the crazies, who are going to doubt he's dead are going to doubt it even if you had a hundred photos. second, the president, the chief of staff, the cia, the military, they did such a good job, they put their heads together, they came to a conclusion that the photos shouldn't be released, they'll still have it in their back pocket, let's defer to it. they did a great jawrk let's feel both good about getting bin laden, remembering the families who have the hole in their heart. i don't think the secondguessing is -- well, i'm i'm -- i'm not going to

engage in it. bill: senator, thank you for your time, chuck schumer. >> a good day for the state of new york and for the usa. bill: amen to that again. back in a moment here. alisyn: all right. let's talk some politics. very first debate in the race to the white house is set for tonight, five gop hopefuls squaring off in the key primary state of south carolina. chief political correspondent is live in greenville, south carolina. so carl, what are the candidates doing right now, ahead of the debate? >> reporter: they're getting geared up for what is the big start of the 2012 cycle. this debate marks the first time the candidates will get together and engage face to face and take questions and have the opportunity to respond to one another. some of them arrived last night, herman cain has been working south carolina since yesterday, last night, rick santorum, former senator of pennsylvania took part and tried to cast himself as the most conservative of

tonight's participants. >> i think you need someone who is principled, someone who is authentically conservative, to show they've led on the more cultural issues, economic issues, the national security issues and i think they've been -- and i think i've been there. >> reporter: south carolina is eagerly anticipating that, as are the tea party members of the pal metro state who are planning virtually an all-day rally in greenville. it will start shortly after noon and run up until the debate. at that, tim pawlenty and others are expected, so they're going to maximize the opportunity to court the early voter. south carolina with the first in the south, there's never been a republican nominee, with the nomination for president who has not won here since the inception of that contest in the 1980s. alisyn: that's very significant and on the minds of the candidates. you know these guys, some are fivey. are we expecting any fire works between them tonight? >> reporter: absolutely. when you take a look at who's going to be

participating, what they've been saying in the runup to this, it's clear there will be plenty of fireworks. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty has said to those not coming, mitt romney, sarah palin, mike huckabee, newt gingrich, they've argued maybe it's too early for a debate, tim pawlenty has said no, he's actually worried it's too late and republicans need to begin seriously running against one another so they can begin effectively running against president obama. also on the stage tonight, we will have rick santorum who we just mentioned, ron paul, texas congressman who ran in 20 08 and whose candidacy in many ways sort of sparked the modern tea party movement itself, mr. cain will be here and another libertarian in the ron paul ilk, new mexico's gary johnson. this is five in a field that could span to as many as # four. we've already seen several drop out of the race, we're wondering if the fence hitters will get off the fence and tonight will put pressure on them to rethink

their hesitation. alisyn: it all starts at 9:00 p.m. tonight. thank you very much, carl cameron. just as carl was saying, one of those candidates who will be at the debate than is herman cain, he will join us live, next. look at this picture. we know that special forces blew up that stealth helicopter that now functioned at bin laden's compound but the tail is still in tact. why this is raising concerns in our intelligence community today.

bill: there are new concerns this morning about american intelligence that may be lost after the crash of that stealth helicopter during the raid on bin laden's compound. now, u.s. navy seals involved in that mission, leaving part of the crashed chopper behind. the tail is now in the hands of the pakistanis. retired u.s. navy captain chuck nash, a fox news military analyst, sir, good morning to you. >> morning, bill. bill: conventional wisdom would say that the technology of a helicopter is contained in the cockpit. and that cockpit, i believe, was destroyed. but the tail was not. what is so significant about that piece of this helicopter? >> well, it appears that what was left behind and did not burn when the special operations folks tried to destroy it is some material that appears to be mounted on the exterior of the tail

rotor and some other things, and it appears to be a stealthy design, so it's probably made of some composite materials that are specially designed to both suppress the sound of the rotors and also the radar signature of the aircraft. bill: this is stealth like the old b2 bomber we became familiar with some 15 years ago. that is a high price of technology, that one could argue that only the united states military has. now, what could the pakistanis do with this? would they sell it? would they keep it for their own? would they give it to beijing? >> well, the pakistanis have a very good relationship with the chinese. it's kind of their strategic counter against india. and so the relations with the chinese, i would suspect that given that china has been running a massive espionage effort against u.s. manufacturing technique

and the u.s. military, they've been jumping into our computers, trying to learn everything about how we do things, if the pakistanis were to then deliver a sample of this material, they could put together the technique and the -- the manufacturing techniques and the things they've learned from doing their espionage and now make that up with a hard material sample and it would certainly help them, because they just launched their first stealth fighter so this could advance their understanding and knowledge of the materials. bill: that stealth fighter launched when rob gates, secretary of defense, was in china. one more question on this, because the department of defense is telling fox news they expect the pakistanis to give the tail back. do you? >> yeah, i think they'll give it back, but how much -- what we don't know is how much is actually there. so if there are a couple of ounces that are missing, nobody is ever going to know. bill: wow. chuck nash, thank you for your time. >> you bet bill.

bill: we'll follow it and hope that's the case in the end. thank you sir. >> pleasure. alisyn: well, he was the very first candidate to announce he's going to run for the republican nomination in 2012. her man cain is the former ceo of godfather's pizza, he's a presidential hopeful, and tonight, he's a debate participant, and he joins us now. good morning mr. cain. >> hello alisyn, thank you, happy to be here. alisyn: great to see you. so you know the conventional wisdom says that if you're the first bright star in the race, you stand a chance of flaming out most quickly. why was it important to you to be the first to announce? >> well, the conventional wisdom doesn't always work and i'm not running this campaign like a traditional campaign. i've been running this as a bottoms-up campaign, developing my name i.d. with people that are in the trenches, all across this country, and especially in

our rhode island and now south carolina and that's one of the big reasons i wanted to be here in this debate tonight, to make a statement to the people of south carolina, as well as to the people from across this country about what herman c aivment n's message is all about. conventional wisdom doesn't always work. alisyn: gotcha. i would imagine that tonight, the focal point will be the death of usama bin laden, or at least national security issues. how does his death change national security in your mind? >> i don't think it changes national security. i think what it does is it demonstrates that we have some very capable national security agents in this country. it also says that our men and women in uniform, in the military, are also very capable in order to be able to carry out an event like this. so the death of usama bin laden doesn't change national security, it gives people more confidence that our national security people are on the job and doing a

great job at it. alisyn: and yet, it has exposed some tension with pakistan and whether or not they can be trusted. >> yes. alisyn: what would you do about pakistan if you were president? >> well, i would take a cautious approach, because as you know, we have been getting mixed signals from pakistan. the american people are still puzzled as to how usama bin laden could be living in this country, in this compound, and the pakistanis claim they didn't know. well, i got to tell you, i don't think a lot of people are buying that, and so based upon what they now do with some of these destroyed technologies that's been found as a result of these raids, that's going to go a long way to determine what type of relationship we're going to have with pakistan going forward. so it's cautious at best right now. alisyn: if you were president would you release the death photos of usama bin laden? >> if i were president, i would not release those photos, and here's why. if you don't know what you're looking for, you won't know what you're

looking at. i think that all it would do is to basically deal with a lot of unnecessary discussions -- fuel a lot of unnecessary discussions and most importantly unnecessary descration -- distractions of what we ought to be looking at. look, the death of usama bin laden was a major achievement on behalf of the united states of america. that was a good thing because he was our enemy, number one, having contributed to the death of over 3000 people. we now need to refocus, alisyn, on real economic stimulus. we need to refocus on a real energy plan, and we need to refocus on providing some real clarity to our entire national security situation, because as you know, the world is not safer. we need to provide some real focus at this point. alisyn: speaking of the economy, we just got some pretty lousy unemployment numbers, the number of claims spiked higher than anyone predicted. on your first day in office what would you do to turn around the economy? >> my first day in office to turn around the economy if i

were president would be my five-point plan: number one, i would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, as well as lower the top personal tax rate. secondly, take capital gains tax rates to zero. third, suspend taxes on repatriated profits. those profits that have been generated by multi-national companies aren't doing us any good, then number four, provide a real payroll tax holiday. instead of this 2 percent payroll tax holiday that was passed by the president and congress at the end of last year, why not give a full 6.2% break to workers, as well as to employers, then number five, once you do those four things, make the tax breaks permanent. uncertainty is killing this economy. i would propose those five points, alisyn, to the united states congress, so we could get passage in the first 90 days of the cain administration. alisyn: her man cain, we look toward to -- forward to hearing more of your ideas

tonight. we thank you for the preview. >> thank you, my pleasure. alisyn: remember you can catch the presidential debate parting at 9:00 p.m. eastern, that's on fox news channel. bill: got a fox news alert in lower manhattan, getting a few more details on how the morning and afternoon will unfold. the president will, during the replay, be accompanied by first responders, in addition, the new york police department, fire department and port authority of new york and new jersey. they will watch that ceremony, as we mentioned, from the northwest side of the survivor tree. there will be ultimately at this memorial in lower manhattan about 150 trees that have been selected and grown with very unique detail, and already, 150 have been planted in the area behind me. also, the 9/11 family members who have been selected, total about 50, they'll meet with the president after that replaying ceremony.

we will see a lot of that unfold throughout the afternoon. but the private meeting with family members will be off limits to the public and the press. in the meantime, al-qaeda, no surprise here, vowing revenge for the death of their ultimate leader. in a moment, signs they're following through on their threats and the new security concerns facing the u.s.

bill: back here in lower manhattan, live now, we're getting reports that the suspected al-qaeda missile attack in yemen today, remember, yemen, many thought even on monday when the news is spreading around the world that yemen is the next hot spot, ten people dead there. is al-qaeda now making good on a promise to avenge the death of usama bin laden? and ultimately, how strong is the terror group's threat in i want to bring in adjunct professor for

foreign relations, and a fox news contributor, good morning to you. bin laden is dead. what do we know about his command and control ability from inside that compound? was it happening? was it active? or was he -- >> we've heard mixed reports but al-qaeda is an organization globally. it's always been a cellular organization, largely decentralized. even if he could send messages around the world the reality there's a bunch of regional commanders running the affiliates. there was a sense within the bush administration and the obama administration that the threat against al-qaeda was larger than one man and just because he goes doesn't mean there aren't regional affiliates in a position to start up trouble. bill: a couple of things, i don't know if you believe this or not, don't know if this is true or not but late yesterday there was a report that showed he was having contact with other groups in yemen, possibly in northern africa. do you believe it? >> i think he was having contact. keep in mind, no internet connection, no phone

connection out of the compound. his ability to send messages by a courier, then those individuals transmitted information, very possible. bill: there's also a report that suggests he had a fiberoptic line that went outside that compound. is that the type of communication that might have gone undetected? by our own intelligence? >> i think the detective work that our intelligence community has been doing on this particular compound for a very long period of time, it's now clear we can be very skeptical that would have gone undetected. this compound was bin laden's was under such intense scrutiny that that would be such a major -- just in terms of human intelligence and technical intelligence, a luge lapse of that kind of thing. bill: there was another report, as we try and track and chase these down, the french are saying, in libya now, that members of al-qaeda in the northern part of that country have gotten their hands on all

kinds of weapons since the war with nato broke out. how concerned should that be, should you believe the -- do you believe the french and is al-qaeda in libya about to take off? >> it's funny, when we were in iraq, 2003, 2004, 2005, we'd see the foreign fighters coming from parts of the middle east and north africa, into iraq, some affiliated with al-qaeda, some coming from libya, from eastern libya, so it's not shocking to me, but i think the news reporting on this right now is pretty thin. it's not that i am questioning the french, but i think we need to take a closer look at this. there's not enough informs to sort of make any sort of conclusive statement on that right now. bill: do you agree with those then that say that yemen is the place. >> yes. bill by and where the focus should be? >> yes. bill: especially with the american-born cleric awlaki living somewhere in that country? >> yemen has the greatest potential in the next 90 days to be a truly failed

state. >> bill: 90 days. >> 120 days, in the near term. if you assume that al-qaeda is going to -- and al-qaeda affiliates are going to launch some kind of reprisal attack post the killing of bin laden, yemen is the weakest state in the region, it's honor in turmoil and they have a real foothold there and if yemen collapses and the protests continue, if the government falls there, there is no state there, no infrastructure. bill: i appreciate your intelligence on this, thank you dan. >> thank you bill. bill: you bet. alisyn: bill, this is a fox news alert, because marine one, you see there, just arriving at andrews air force base, president obama there on board, about to depart for new york city. it is sure to be an emotionally charged day here in new york. the president is expected to lay a wreath at ground zero. he will also meet with 9/11 families and first responders who will bring -- and we will bring you all of that when the president takes off and touches down in manhattan.

alisyn: when the emergency calls came september 11, the emergency fighters grabbed their gear and raced to the burning twin towers, many never returned. engine 54 lost 15 firefighters on that day. still, they go on, the firehouse answers around 14,000 emergency calls a year. fifty-four firefighters now work at engine 54. today, president obama plans to stop by that station to meet with those firefighters fox's eric shawn is live there with more. tell us more with what will happen eric. >> reporter: well, alisyn, on that cripps september morning 15 firefighters raced out of this firehouse behind me, heading toward the burning world trade

center, they never made it back. they lost all members who were on duty that day, the most of any firehouse in the city, and this morning, we expect president obama to come here to pay tribute to them and for the firefighters on duty today to pay tribute to him. let's take a look inside this firehouse. there is a makeshift shrine that's been there since september 11th, honoring those who died, all 15 firefighters, left a total of 28 children. mire fighter michael haad, erica had two children, president obama will certainly be told by every firefighter. this was one of the busiest firehouses in the city, they have 14,000 calls a year. the gratitude and thanks are tempered by the somber remembrance of what happened here and although many are grat tied and satisfied and happy, not everyone is satisfied with this day. firefighter tim brown, who was one of the activist members of the family

members and was there on 9/11 is speaking out, saying he doesn't think the public events today are really appropriate. >> they should be a very quiet meeting and he should have brought seal team six with him and he should have brought the wonderful cia folks who tracked him down with him so the personallies could personally say thank you. it should not be about his reelection. >> reporter: laura bush visited this firehouse in 2001. this is the first time a sitting president has a day for the president to give thanks to them, for them to give thanks to the president for making sure that usama bin laden is dead. back to you in the studio. alisyn: obviously, it will be a very emotional scene there, eric shawn, thank you for bringing that to us. , the numbers that eric talked about, 28 children left fareless from that one station, that really drives home the impact of that day.

we'll go down to bill at ground zero shortly. meanwhile, there are more details trickling in about what happened on the mission that killed usama bin laden. we're live in washington, with new information on who was inside that compound during the raid. right back. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. ♪ hello sunshine, s[ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. ♪ [ horn honks ] ♪ ♪

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from now, and they believe in new york it will be so remarkable it will be the most visited site in america. that is saying something and we'll show you that a bit later this hour, good morning to you. alisyn: good morning, bill, it has been a long time in coming, and something the victims' families have been desperately wanting and i am alisyn camerota in for martha maccallum, live en our new york city studios, concerns that a top-secret piece of military hardware could end up in the wrong hands. the tail from the black hawk chopper that went down at bin laden's compound was filled with stealth radar-jamming equipment and this as wleern there were 17 or 18 people, inside that compound, during the raid, blarnblarin laden's wife, 8-year-old daughter and we are told, navy s.e.a.l.s took one person alive and, a lot of information is coming from the navy s.e.a.l.s, back and reporting what they saw. bill: it is remarkable, too.

and, i find it fascinating and the raid and what they went through and we'll learn a lot more, too, we're still in the early staging, the "go" mission and, what went on inside and catherine herridge is in touch with her sources in the intelligence community and what do we know, about the al qaeda leader, that surrendered? what happened there? >> reporter: good morning, bill, thank you, the saudis report this morning that an important al qaeda operative, khalid al-kahtani turned himself into, because he's a member of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, an affiliate where we have an american as an operational planner and he was one of the saudis' most wanted terrorists and officials are working to confirm that is the case, he turned himself in, if that is so we may see the first evidence of what people in the intelligence community call scatter, that is

when you have a big pickup, or a big kill, like we had on sunday, and, then what you see is operatives going on the move. bill? bill: they ditch and ditch their cell phones and i mean run like rats to the corner and we see that time and again, whether afghanistan or pakistan or iraq and the intelligence found inside the compound, was described to us, catherine as an encyclopedia of al qaeda and what more have they found. >> reporter: what we know this morning is the cia hassett set task force to go through the data and it includes many of the analysts in the usama bin laden unit, and, i'm told there are three priority areas, first and foremost, actionable intelligence, that relates to threat information and the second would be new leads on al qaeda operatives and, third, i found perhaps the most significant, is that they are looking for leads on the support network in pakistan, that

allowed usama bin laden to stay at that compound near a major urban center, bill. bill: catherine herridge, thank you. when you get more, come on back, okay? it is fascinating to listen to your reports and, that of jennifer griffin throughout the week. and the iconic photograph from inside the situation room, that was taken at the white house, on sunday afternoon, raising a few questions, about bin laden, and the president, environment, secretary of state and secretary of defense huddled together watching live as navy s.e.a.l.s raided the compound in back stan and it was the expression of hillary clinton that leads some to wonder exactly what they were watching at the moment, that photo was snapped. >> those were the 38 of the most in 10 minutes minutes, i have no idea, what any of us were looking at at that particular millisecond when the picture was taken. i'm somewhat sheepishly

concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs, so, it may have no great meaning whatsoever. bill: if you look at that picture and you look into the eyes of all of those assembled, they were transfixed on the image in front of them. and, senator clinton -- sorry, secretary clinton, excuse me, saying that she was a bit embarrassed, too, and it may have been her trying to stifle a sneeze blamed on the pollen, especially in washington, d.c. when the cherries are in blossom, alisyn. alisyn: why does she have to be embarrassed? her face tells the story of the nail-biting, nerve-racking scene inside there and i wish she would have told us more what she was feeling rather than allergy symptoms. bill: i tell you, i -- on my ipad, i mentioned to you the other day, i went in, as deep as

i could, on the zoom on that picture, and looking into the eyes of all of them, and, most of the people in that room, with the exception of admiral mullen, and secretary gates, had likely never seen an operation like that in real-time. unfold before their very eyes and what we have found, from others who have had a similar experience during the bush years, when they watch those cancer, and see those things happen live their biggest fear is for the americans going in, and, clearly you can see that, in that photo, alisyn. alisyn: absolutely, we heard so many of them saying, you want to yell out, you want to say, look what is in front of you, look what is behind you! and obviously you are just sort of captive viewers, there. but, anyway, it is a fascinating photo and we have studied it and people will continue to, for many years. many while, president obama, departing andrews air force base aboard air force one moments ago and is headed for ground zero this afternoon and his first

trip there as president. where he will lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial and meet with families of those killed in the twin -- when the twin towers fell, mike emanuel is live at the white house. mike? >> reporter: alisyn, good morning. white house aides say president obama believes it is entirely fitting an appropriate to visit ground zero, after this significant and cathartic moment for the country. the president left the white house, a short time ago, with senior aides, and we don't expect mr. obama to make any form of a formal address during his visit to new york but we do expect some informal remarks at some point, aides say he wants to lay a wreath to honor the victims and first responders who bravely rushed to the scene almost ten years ago, and, to honor that spirit of unity we all felt in the wake of those devastating attacks and also expect the president will be private -- meet privately with the families of victims and first responders and, he invited former presidents george w. bush and bill clinton to join him

today. mr. bush declined though he's expected to return to ground zero, for the ten-year remembrance, and mr. clinton had a scheduling conflict, back here in washington, and we know vice president joe biden, defense secretary gates and former defense secretary donald rumsfeld will have a similar quiet remembrance, at the ground zero -- rather the pentagon, memorial as well. back to you. alisyn: mike emanuel, thank you so much for that information and we'll let our viewers know, that you can see the president lay the wreath at ground zero, live, right here, of course on fox news, set for 1:25, p.m., eastern. and we're also getting new reactions from afghanistan, hundreds gathering in kabul and around this country e country tr top leaders speak about that. conor powell is streaming live from kabul, afghanistan. >> reporter: afghans long feared america's commitment to rebuilding afghanistan is not as firm as u.s. officials have said. afghans are keenly aware

after... units pulled out of afghanistan in the 1980s, americans left the region allowing al qaeda and the taliban to come back into take control of afghanistan and so there's a lot of fear here, that now, with the death of usama bin laden, america might pull up and leave and the past few days, not surprisingly, we have heard a great deal from afghan officials, who are nudging america, reminding america there is still a lot of work left to rebuild here in afghanistan. >> killing of usama bin laden is good news but we should not forget al qaeda supporters and network is still alive and we should strengthen our security forces to avoid any hostile activity. >> reporter: now, american officials including ambassador eichenberry, the u.s. ambassador here to kabul, has urged afghans that america is not leaving, that there is a timeline to rebuilding the country, and, they are standing by the afghan people, to make sure that al qaeda and the taliban never are

able to come back into power here in afghanistan, alisyn. alisyn: conor powell, live for us from kabul, thank you for that update. so interesting to hear the responses, in afghanistan, today, and pakistan, yesterday, that we heard to the death of usama bin laden. bill: and we are getting brand new intelligence, now, on the raid that nabbed bin laden. who was inside and what was left behind, and who was left behind and who may have been taken out alive and it has been three years since president obama toured ground zero and he comes back today, the significance of his visit with former white house press secretary, dana perino, moments away. >> i think it is a way of coming, getting close to the situation, being with everybody here, ground zero, where it happened, where the emotions probably are still running and are raw, because it is where it occurred. th joy?

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alisyn: we have breaking news, right now, because there are reports that pakistan's army is admitting to, quote, shortcomings in its effort to locate usama bin laden. let's bring in former cia officer, sarah lopez, senior fellow at center for security policy. good morning. >> good morning. alisyn: what do you make of pakistan's army, now admitting that they didn't do a very good job of locating bin laden? >> well, it is hard to see how they could say anything else. i think they are in full damage control mode. it simply was not plausible, that they would have maintained the position they know nothing about the compound in abbotbad and usama bin laden there so many years, it strains credulity. alisyn: let's talk about what was going on inside the compound. we now know there were 17 or 18 people, perhaps, inside the compound, and, what happens to those people? what do the navy s.e.a.l.s do with them, after the mission is

completed and bin laden is dead? >> well, from what we are hearing, the reports i have heard, so far, they turned over a number of persons to the pakistanis. there were numbers of guards, and those who were firing back at the seals, who were killed, and, others who were -- included among them, apparently women and children, were turned over to the pakistanis, to the best of my understanding. alisyn: and in your experience, as a former cia officer would they have been interviewed and interrogated for information before being handed over. >> i don't get the impression the seals had all that much time to conduct interviews, like that. they were busy collecting the evidence from the site including the computers and the hard drives and the flash drives and so forth. looking for documents, bringing all of that out, and, then, of course arranging for their transportation, minus one helicopter and so i'm not sure they would have had a lot of time to conduct extensive interrogati interrogation, but, that

apparently has been left to the pakistanis. alisyn: speaking of that helicopter, we now know the tail piece of this super-secret stealth helicopter was left behind. how worrisome is this? >> it is hard tfor me to tell, don't expertise in the exact specifications of helicopters but i understand they did blow up the fuselage of the helicopter and that seems to have been their primary concern. the tail assembly seems to be pretty interesting, that said. alisyn: do we know why the tail didn't blow up? >> i don't know. alisyn: the pakistani military is known to have a close relationship with the chinese military and how likely is it the tail, what materials it has, will be handed over to ba jing. >> we can take it as a given, anything' pakistani army can glean from what might have been left behind by the seals would

be shared in particular, perhaps, with the chinese, yes. alisyn: and would this be able to serve as a blueprint for the chinese army to then copy this technology? >> well, again, i don't know if they already know of it or if they already have something similar. just too many unknowns at this point in time to talk about what might be made of this remaining tail piece there. or what use could be had by the chinese, but i think the main point that you get at is a good one and that is that the chinese and the pakistanis have quite a close relationship, and, information will be shared between them. alisyn: you are not the only one who doesn't know much about this helicopter. no once had seen anything like it, in fact a former defense department official is on the record, saying, that he has never seen anything like what we are seeing on this tail piece, in terms of the unusual covers on the rear rotors there, and the high-tech materials that it

was made out of and sounds like no one even in this country was sure that the technology existed. >> well, obviously, somebody knew, and somebody put it on the helicopter. but, it is this first team a imt of us are getting a look at it. alisyn: you are right, clare lopez, former cia officer, thanks for coming in. >> my pleasure. alisyn: let's go to ground zero where bill hemmer is, all morning. bill: remarkable what the military can do and you think how good they've gotten the past ten years during the war on terror and remember, covering the earthquake in haiti? and, the u.s. air force flew down there to help out with operations at the airport, in port-au-prince and these guys getting off the plane were at war ten years and even the mid range air force guys, they make everyone else at that airport look amateur. like they were in aaa and the

u.s. military was the major leagues, it was so impressive and again, it is today. so, anyway... we're add ground zero, awaiting president obama's arrival and some americans that were here nearly ten years ago when the twin towers were attacked are now reacting to the president's visit and we want to hear from you, do you agree with the president's decision not to release the photos showing the dead body of usama bin laden? at foxnews.com you can weigh in and vote and get this: since 2:00 yesterday afternoon, more than 177,000 have voted. at the moment, 34,000 say yes, they agree and 56% say no. you can vote, on-line, now, 177,000 in less than 24 hours. wow. here's america's mayor, reacting to the death of usama bin laden. >> just as much safety as you create, long term you probably

create danger, short-term because he does have such emotional and irrational followers. that we have to be alert right now. that something might happen and is a necessary risk we have to run. lp

alisyn: a "fox news alert," the number of people seeking unemployment benefits is at the highest level in 8 months, a sign the job market may be weakening. the labor department reporting jobless applications, rose last week, by 43,000, and, up to 474,000. and this is the third increase in just four weeks, fox business network's eric bolling joins us, the anchor of "follow the money". >> not only going in the wrong

direction but going in the wrong direction rapidly, last week, 429,000 and the week before, 410,000 and there is a happened increase of people applying the first time for jobless benefits and continuing claims, people who already on and continually looking for assistance was close to 4 million people and a lot of people on the unemployment line and a lot of people are unemployed, and, the bottom line is the labor market, labor market is still on its ear and not recovering as quickly as we'd like to see it happen, and, the housing market is still not doing well and the only thing that is recovering is the stock markets, and that happens when you throw trillions of stimulus dollars into the market it will look good. alisyn: did something happen the last three weeks that reversed the trend. >> only thing you can think of are people are starting to ask for help and have given up looking for a job and say i need this, i need help, help us out and the first time, initial jobless claims, first-time, 474,000, and, adp, yesterday, came out with a private -- not government -- private sector

workforce and there was an increase of 170,000 jobs and that is a good sign, and small businesses, accounted for 95% of the increase in jobs, in the country and sometimes, they are service jobs and restaurants and bars and whatnot, but they are putting the private sector back to work and the important number to note is that as the economy turns around, the labor market has to turn around a lot quicker. alisyn: right, eric bolling, thanks for coming in and giving us that assessment. you can catch eric when he hosts "follow the money" on fox business network monday through wednesday and friday, 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> the rest of the world hears you. and, the people... [cheers and applause]. >> and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us, soon. [cheers and applause].

>> u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.! [cheers and applause]. bill: that was a friday morning. september 14th, 2001 and a moment frozen in time. and still, very raw in the minds of millions in the city that never sleeps, that is new york city and new yorkers, many of whom survived the attacks of september 11th, talking now, about the death of bin laden and the birth of a new gotham city skyline. rick follow babaufolbaum, my co fox news channel and you were here the day the towers people and you are here today and, you are talking to people and what are they telling you about the significance of the events of this past week and today could be. >> reporter: bill, you are right. we have been here so many times over the years. for the anniversary, every september 11th, of course, it is always a solemn and sober

occasion, so, it is nice to come down here, today, quite frankly, to separate something good. the people i've talked to, it depends on who you speak with, everybody is reacting a little bit differently which is not unexpected. you know, in new york city. lots of different kinds of people, that will have different kinds of responses, and patrick is a young man you should know about. his father, kevin, new york city firefighter, was killed on 9/11 and after the attacks, patrick went onto go to west point, and he then served combat missions in iraq, in afghanistan, and he's now back home, state side and, after news of bin laden's death began to circulate sunday night patrick and his brother came to ground zero. they wanted to be here and he told me that he understands why the president wants to be here, today. take a listen: >> this is where it all began, you know, almost ten years ago now and i think the president just like me and my brother and

the rest of a lot of the guys that came down to be here, they feel like it is the place that it will started and, now, you know, significance -- a significant effect on what will happen in the future. rick: patrick's younger brother, following in his father's footsteps, also, a new york city firefighter. back to you, bill. bill: rick, thanks. it is good to be with you down here as we await the president, wreath-laying and the family members who will be here to greet him, rick folbaum in new york city. if someone you love was killed in the attacks of 9/11, what would you say to the president, now? our next guest lost her own son, a new york city firefighter who rushed into the towers to save others. what she will tell the president, after the break. >> i want to thank him, hug him and thank him, shake his hand and say, you know, thanks from

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bill: good morning, governor, it's 1:30 here in new york city. we have come to another one of those moments, a moment where the country pauses to remember 3000 lives lost, and tens of thousands of lives affected forever, to the end of time, and we also

mark a moment in this war on terror when the leader of al-qaeda who unleashed a vicious assault on this country almost ten years ago is fine -- has finally met justice. at ground zero behind me, a lot of people come to new york and they walk to ground zero and they think it's a big construction zone, like what's happening down there. well, there's an awful lot happening now. we took this picture from the port authority of new york and new jersey and we just want to share with our viewers specifically what's happening, this is from the southwest corner, looking to the northeast. that shaded area is the footprint of the north tower, that is where a giant waterfall will open up to the public this september. now, the other image on the right, to the right of that is the former footprint of the south tower, that, too, will have a giant waterfall with a memorial for the lives of those lost. now, over to the left is what is known as the freedom tower, now called one world trade center, that will stretch 1776 feet into the

air. at the moment, more than 60 floors have been near completion, anyway, the concrete and glass below it are now established. to the right is four world trade center, that's now 23 stories tall. in addition to those two buildings, you'll see two world trade and three world trade, also constructed near the site. so there's an awful lot going on down here, with 3000 workers in ground zero, every day, finishing a floor a week. remarkable. also a day filled with raw emotion with so many of the loved ones -- who lost loved ones in the day of the attacks. you lost your son, he was 28 years old, he was a firefighter for the new york fire department. you will meet the president today when he comes to new york. what do you want to tell him? >> first of all, i'm very honored to be invited. i'm going to tell him that i express the thanks of mice, my family, for the wonderful

thing he's done for us. we've waited ten long years. we have had no justice in a decade. now he's been able to provide that. we're extremely grateful to him, not only to him, but to the military, my son was a recon marine sergeant, he spent five years in the marine corps, he was very well acquainted with the tactical force that was able to capture bin laden, and i must say that i give my praise and gratitude to the united states military. bill: well stated. you also say that you feel as if you have been very alone in your own sorrow. why is that? >> well, you know, after ten years, the families really have felt that life went on, people are interested in other things, you know, we feel our private grief but we don't speak about it any more, really. when we found out that bin laden was captured and he received his end, when we

saw the people come down here to ground zero, to times square, to washington, and have them rejoice with us, it was so heartwarming for us. it really brought back the patriotism and enthusiasm that we experienced from the american public, from the world public, after 9/11. we are so grateful to the public for their concern and for their sharing this very momentous time with us. bill: were you down here on monday, by the way? >> i was down here on monday. bill: i mean, how many thousands and thousands of people were walking these sidewalks to comeem rate that day! it was remarkable. >> i appreciate it so much. you know, some people have questioned it, was it appropriate. yes, it is appropriate. it's appropriate for people to come out, to say good riddens to an evil person, and to rejoice and celebrate this country, our military. we're a great country. we have wonderful resources. i feel very, very

enthusiastic, and i have great gratitude to the president and to everyone who took part in this. bill and that's christian in your hands. >> christian regenhard, a prooccupationary firefighter, one of 17 lost, he was one of 97 unmarried firefighters, nearly one third of the fire department that was killed were young, single, they never had a chance to live their lives, and i'm here really not for myself. i'm here with the president to represent my son. and to say thank you. bill: thank you sally. good luck today, okay? >> thank you. bill sally regenhard with us now, her story one of the many of the hundreds if not thousands that we always hear down here on moments like today. alisyn: i think she's so right, life has moved on in the past ten years for many of us but for the victims' families, obviously it's different. it was nice to hear her personal story. thanks bill.

meanwhile the successful mission to take out public enemy number one, usama bin laden, is going to of course be a topic at the first presidential debate on fox tonight, host of fox news sunday, chris wallace is in greenville, south carolina for the debate. good morning chris. >> good morning, alisyn. alisyn: pundits have speculated that by president obama ordering such a daring and ultimately successful mission, he is stealing some of the thunder from republicans on national security issues. how will they address that tonight? >> reporter: well, that's going to be -- i guess it's not giving away a secret, the very first question we ask the five republican candidates at the debate, is does the bin laden killing in any way change your criticism, because all of them have been highly critical, of president obama's foreign policy, his conduct of the war on terror over his almost two years in office and that will be issue number one when we begin the debate, at 9:00

p.m. eastern time on fox news channel. alisyn: is it issue number two, three and four as well or do you quickly move on to the economy? >> reporter: well, i'm not going to give away my secrets! i already gave you that al sip! >> alisyn: i've got to try, chris! >> >> reporter: foreign policy is obviously a big topic but there are an awful lot of other things on peoples' minds, the economy, gas prices, jobs and bad jobs numbers this morning, obviously, the fight in washington over the debt and the decifit and what to do about the out of control spending in this country. and then a lot of other issues, immigration -- i've got to tell you, i have broken away from the room where bret baier and myself and juan williams and shannon bream are sitting there going over questions and honing them down, and we're going to reflect and ask all the questions that are on all of our viewers' minds and americans' minds and it will be interesting

to see what these five candidates have to say about it. al it will be very interesting, a fever pitch in that room. let's talk about the candidates that describe themselves as libertarians, congressman ron paul and former new mexico governor jerry johnson. which guy gets the share of the lib tearns' passion and dollars? >> i think ron paul. one thing about ron paul is the -- you know, he was kind of the godfather of the tea party. and you know, it's really interesting, because i have to say that back in 2008, we got a lot of criticism about it but in the fox debates, in the fuse coverage, we treated paul as kind of a fringe candidate because he appear as that. he's being treated much more seriously by all of the media at this time, not that he's changed his view, but because the country, certainly the republican party, has move more in his direction on a lot of these issues such as government spending, the reach of government, its intrusion in peoples' lives. and as we saw, back in 2008,

paul has not broad support, but the people that like ron paul really are devoted to him, and you know, he's been able to raise money and turn out crowds of people supporting him very easily. i think he -- if you're going to compare him to gary johnson, i think he has much more of a foothold of the republican party. alisyn: yeah, i get the e-mails from his supporters, i feel the passion as well. all right chris wallace, thank you very much for coming on and giving us a little taste of what to expect tonight. chris of course is the host of fox news sunday and will be at the republican debate tonight which you can catch from greenville, south carolina right here on fox news channel, 9:00 p.m. eastern we will look forward to that. this is not the president's first trip to ground intreero this afternoon. he toured the hallowed ground as a candidate with fellow senator john mccain back in 2008. why today will be nothing like his last visit. former white house press secretary dana perino is live with us after the break to talk about all of this.

bill: that's congressman keith ellison, one of only two muslim necessary congress siding with the president's decision not to release the photographs of the corpse of usama bin laden. we're also getting tee tails from our own jennifer griffin about what was found inside the compound. as we go through the details, some of the story has changed and shifted slightly from day to day. here is what we understand based on the information. u.s. authorities now have in their possession two of bin laden's guns, an ak-47 and

maceroff handgun, which sounds a bit like a pistol, they were at the entrance to the room as the seals entered and so, too, was bin laden at the entrance to the room when they came in. it's also confirmed now, only one of the five killed had a weapon on him and was firing when the seals entered, so the firefight they talked about did involve one, and only one, of the five dead that were killed there. the resistance from women apparently took many forms, including at one lurching toward one of the navy seals, one of the women was killed, and another woman was shot in the leg. the son that was killed was khalid bin laden, not hamsa, which had been reported as well, too, earlier, so a bit of these facts changing and changing slightly as we move throughout the briefings that we're getting from the white house every afternoon and also the information we get from the pentagon. which brings us now to our

question of the day: what do you think? do you agree with the president on this issue? about the photographs? right now, 56 percent say we do not need to see them. about 34 percent say otherwise. one hundred seventy-seven thousand votes so far online. let us know what you think. line is open right now, foxnews.com. alisyn: any moment now, air force one is expected to touch down in new york and the white house spokesperson, jay carney, just held a gaggle, as we call it, we reporters, on the jet, saying today is a bittersweet moment in many ways. you may remember the last time the president visited this hallowed ground, it was before john mccain visited there before he was president. dana perino is a former white house press secretary and fox news contributor. good morning dana. >> good morning. alisyn: this is the first visit of president obama since becoming president.

what does he need to do today? >> i agree with jay carney, i think it is one of these intitter -- bittersweet moments that can provide closure for some. we live in such a polarizing environment that some people will criticize, shall people -- some people won't think it's enough but i would also point out alisyn that coming up in 3 1/2 months or four-months is the tenth senior of the september 11th attacks and president obama there be there -- will be there again as i understand it. president bush, the president i worked for and the white house and previous president will be there as well and i'm sure as many of the former presidents there be -- will be there that day to mark a significant moment for all of us americans and not only americans but the otherror -- other people who lost their lives, including many muslims, as well as our allies that continue to fight with us across the world in the war on terror. alisyn: you just brought up your former boss, george w. bush, he politely declined president obama's invitation to join him today at ground zero, except 9/11 was such a

watershed moment in president bush's presidency. why do you think he turned down the invitation? >> well, i think, one, i remember -- i just said that president bush has already agreed to be at ground zero with president obama on 9/11 , that's four-months from now. i think president bush's position -- bush' position in history is secure when it comes to his commitment, unfailing, constant vigilance about protecting america. he went through so much ridicule and rangery, bitter debates that people sent his way as they set up the polices now that are in place that helped protect us. he was willing to do that, and it has paid off. and the first words out of his mouth on sunday night was pray for president obama, coupled with praise for the men and women in our intelligence communities that make this day happen, including those men and women whose names we'll never know, because they gave their life. alisyn: yeah, that was really -- >> in secret, when they were

working in covert operations. alisyn: of course. that was really a nice touch and heartwarming. do you think that president obama should make remarks today? i don't think he is officially scheduled to do so. >> i think it's up to him. and i think that americans would be glad to see a speech, just as much as they'll be glad to see any sort of off the cuff remarks that he decides to give to the press, if he decides to give any at all. i just -- i'm not in the mode of criticizing him for going or for what he's going to do today. i think it's an important moment and i'm glad we're going to have a chance to just reflect, just for a moment, pause, stop the polarizing discussion, and just remember the victims, not the president who set the polices in place or the president who made the call to take him out. alisyn: let's hope that that does happen today, and is able to happen today, to take politics out of this moment. dana perino, thank you very much for coming in. >> okay, bye bye. alisyn: let's go over to jon

scott to see what's coming up on "happening now". jon: alisyn, thank you very much. as you've been reporting, we're awaiting the president's arrival at the site of the world trade center in new york city where he will lay a wreath in memo of those killed in the 9/11 attacks. new details on the raid and firefight that ended with the death of bin laden as pakistan makes comments that are raising eyebrows in washington and elsewhere. the president says we won't release the photos. we'll talk to a senator who says yes, we can release them, and we should. his story, coming up. and welcome to the first republican presidential debate tonight. we'll look ahead at 9:00 p.m. eastern on fox, a preview, coming up, "happening now".

bill: back here at ground zero, we're getting information from the white house, jay carney, spokesman for the president, currently enroute to new york city was meeting with reporters on air force one talking about how the tone will be much different today with the replaying and appearance here and arrival in new york city, much different that a now scheduled trip to kentucky to meet with troops tomorrow. also when asked about the story line for what happened inside that compound, as we just reported from the pentagon, only one of the five men shot and killed inside that compound had a gun at the time, what carney says is he has no updates on the, quote, narrative for how that happened. there's an effort to get the information quickly, result ing in having to clarify some of our facts and he says to the white house's credit, we did that, then he suggested the defense department can take questions, further questions, about and further details about gathering of that information. so that's what we're getting now from jay carney, moments

ago. back here at ground zero, suessie tarber is an american from montgomery, texas, just outside of houston, and you've been to ground zero three times now over the past ten years. why is it so important for you to come to new york and visit this sacred place? >> well, i think for today, it's historic, it's an historic time. i think it speaks to the resilience of the american people to see that this is a place not of devastation but of hope now, and a rebuilding of what was already here. bill: that's great point. because the rebuilding of ground zero is something a lot of folks don't -- they don't really understand. what do you think they need to understand about why this -- some have called it a rebirth of america. what do they need to understand about that? >> well, again, it just -- it is reflective of the american spirit.

it's an example of how, you know, there was trouble, we were attacked, and yet, we've come back from that, and we're stronger for it. bill: i know you were down here on monday, you're back today. thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, okay? we'll go and look for you a bit later today. susie tarver out of texas. you hear that so often as our coverage continues live here in lower manhattan.

bill living here in new york city, alisyn, listen to go people like susie tarver, they speak for so many on how moved they are when they come to this place in lower manhattan. our coverage continues throughout the day, alisyn, great to be with you. i'll see you tomorrow in person, huh? >> alisyn: i'll look forward to that and thank you very much for helping to remind us of what happened down there as we all pause today to watch the id